White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt faced off with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Wednesday, over the White House’s blocking of the Associated Press from attending President Trump’s press availabilities.
The move came after the White House warned AP that if it did not align its editorial standards with Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico, it would be barred from all future Oval Office events.
In a historic move, AP reporters were blocked from two of Trump’s press events on Tuesday, one of which featured Elon Musk. It happened again the next day, with the barring of another reporter from a swearing-in for ceremony for Tulsi Gabbard.
In late January, the publication vowed to not use Trump’s newly christened ‘Gulf of America’, citing prospective confusion from readers.
‘The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years,’ an announcement at the time stated. ‘The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.’
The statement was apparently not enough for Trump and his team, who went through with their promise.
This spurred some strong words from CNN’s new Chief White House Correspondent Collins, leaving Leavitt to set the record straight.
Not backing down, the 27-year-old made it clear the name – like Trump – was here to stay.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt faced off with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Wednesday, over the White House’s blocking of the Associated Press from attending President Trump’s press availabilities
The move came after the White House warned AP that if it did not align its editorial standards with Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico, it would be barred from all future Oval Office events
‘Which White House official made the decision to bar the AP reporter from the Oval Office and the diplomatic reception room last night?’ Collins, 32, asked first, after being picked out by the press secretary during her brief.
‘Well, first of all, let me just set the record straight,’ Leavitt shot back. ‘It is a privilege to cover this White House.
‘It’s a privilege to be the White House press secretary, and nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask the President of the United States questions,’ she continued.
‘That’s an invitation that is given.’
‘And there are hundreds of outlets on this campus, many of you in this room, who don’t have the privilege of being part of that pool every single day and getting to ask the president questions,’ she went on, amid word Trump’s team is considering offering press passes to influencers.
‘We reserve the right to decide who gets to go into the Oval Office, and you all have credentials to be here, including the Associated Press.’
She proceeded to point out how a reporter from the AP was actually in the briefing room as she spoke – but Collins remained unconvinced.
‘Isn’t it retaliatory in nature?’ she asked. ‘Is this setting a precedent that this white house will retaliate against reporters who don’t use the language that you guys believe?
On Tuesday, in a historic move, AP reporters were blocked from two of Trump’s press events, including this one with Elon Musk
Collins, who was named CNN’s chief White House Correspondent just months ago, had some strong words Leavitt regarding the situation, leaving the latter set the record straight
Not backing down, Leavitt made it clear the name – and Trump – was here to stay
‘How does that align with the First Amendment?’
Leavitt, barely two weeks into her tenure as the youngest-ever White House press secretary, replied that she was upfront in her day one briefing that if there were ‘lies being pushed by outlets in this room’ the administration was ‘going to hold those lies accountable’.
‘And it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America,’ she emphasized. ‘I’m not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that, but that is what it is.’
Leavitt proceeded to point out how Google agreed to label the gulf in accordance with Trump’s wishes, as did Apple.
The Secretary of Interior has made that the official designation in the geographical identification name server and Apple has recognized that, Google has recognized that, pretty much every other outlet in this room has recognized that,’ Leavitt said.
‘And it’s very important to this administration that we get that right, not just for people here at home, but also for the rest of the world.’
The back-and-forth ended there, leaving the two to wait for an almost inevitable future brush-up.
Julie Pace, the executive editor of AP, added in a statement, saying: ‘It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism.’
AP editor Julie Pace responded to the controversy in a statement, saying, ‘It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism’
‘Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment’
‘Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.’
Collins, meanwhile, served as Trump-era White House reporter for both the Daily Caller and CNN.
The Alabama-born journalist, aged just 32, was barred at one point, by Trump, for asking a series of questions about Vladimir Putin. She was named CNN’s chief White House correspondent shortly after the election.